Post birthday

Sunday night, tomorrow is ready, lesson plans and homework sheets are printed.  This weekend culminates in the best way: satiation.  I'm going to make this brief, as one more episode of The Wire waits for me, and tomorrow's 5:45am start will arrive sooner than desired.  I am full in so many ways.  Nick orchestrated a birthday surprise for me last night: after I recovered from being stunned, I was so so happy that I got to spend a few hours with some of my favorite people ever.  I was surprised at the Honky Tonk Barbeque under the guise of showing off this eclectic place to Nick's mom Theresa and Aunt Peggy, who were visiting for the weekend.  It was really crowded so our friends ordered take out and brought it back to our place.  This was kind of perfect because I'd been really wanting to to share our apartment with our friends.   Mary Sue brought homemade pistachio cake, and, if you read my birthday post from last week, you know how special that was.  It was delicious, just like Mom's.  Today I took the morning to recover from staying up late last night, and at noon got myself swiftly up to the Contact Jam, in which the combination of Links Hall energy and rolling and flying always rights me.   On the drive up I noticed that when the sky is grey, the lake is lovely light sea foam green, which is the exact color of a new scarf I got yesterday.  Theresa and I split a 2 for 1 deal at a shop in Chinatown and I now have a new scarf to put into the rotation.  There is something so comforting about wearing a soft, beautiful scarf, that can both hide me and act as an undercover security blanket.  I love it. And tonight we've had a bit of an apocalyptic looking lightening storm and audible rain that clears the air.  I love that too.